Dodgeland

Annette VanHook Thompson, District Administrator for the Dodgeland School District, was visited on July 12, 2012. Also present at the meeting were Jessica Johnson, Elementary Principal and Marcia Modaff, Middle and High School Principal. The discussion focused on four areas concerning district policy; district expectations of new teachers; TPA and producing a student teacher video; and the following programs:

Fred Yeo, Annnette VanHook Thompson, Marcia Modaff, and Jim Hoffman

The Add on Licensure Program extends the license of teachers. The program is individually tailored to help teachers or districts enhance their flexibility in curriculum areas.

TheEducational Leadership Program has the flexibility for districts to choose course work that focuses on their district goals and initiatives. This course work could be made part of an individual Master’s of Science Degree for teachers in the district

New teachers need to understand RTI and be able to plan lessons with individual interventions for students. They must also be able to integrate technology into the classrooms for learning and assessment. An understanding of the common core standards is also needed for beginning teachers. They need to have a passion for teaching and involvement in their schools.

The district has a passive permission policy but more would have to be added to the policy for situations when the class is being used in a video for student teaching. The district would be able to upload a student teachers video to the Internet for evaluation by an outside company. The district owns images and videos made in the district so this would also require a review of the district policy.

The district feels that the Add On Licensure is a good program to offer to districts. It will be important in the future for districts to look for new teachers with multiple licensures. The district has used the program in the past to extend a teachers licensure.

An 18-week format for student teaching would be more beneficial for student teachers and the classroom students. A co-teacher format would also be valuable for the student teacher and the classroom teacher.